The present invention relates to a level clamp apparatus for leveling of opposed work members and particularly to such a clamp apparatus for holding of a pair of opposed offset members with the opposed edges in alignment for welding and the like.
In welding and the like, opposed edges of work metal elements are supported in touching or slightly spaced relation and joined by heating the edges to fusion such as by arc welding or the like. Various applications are encountered where the edges are not aligned and means must be provided to deflect one or both of the members to align the edges in order to properly weld the edges to each other.
Various clamp devices have been suggested for such as conventional C-clamps and the like for clamping of the edges of opposed plates in alignment with each other. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,556,508 illustrates a clamp with a flat plate and an adjustment screw. The flat plate is welded to the work and a screw moves to align the work edges. A particularly satisfactory system is a tool sold by Enerpac, Inc., Model No. FYF-1. Such tool includes an elongated base, one end of which is adapted to be releasably secured and abutt one of the plate members. The tool base includes a horizontal supporting recess adapted to releasably engage a flanged member secured to the first plate as by welding. The opposite end of the tool base extends over the opposite plate and includes a hydraulic actuator for forcing of the opposed plate into alignment with the first plate. A mechanical screw lock is provided to hold the plates in the aligned position during welding. After welding of the edges, the tool is removed and the flanged support member removed as with a hammer or the like. Such mechanical tools provide a rapid means of aligning the plates which minimizes the operator's time, minimizing cost of manufacture.
Although various clamp means are available to align the edges for plate members as well as specialized tools for other particular applications, a need remains for a highly versatile tool which permits alignment of the edges and the like in many different applications, such as pipe members angulated flat plates in different orientations and the like. For example, a cylindrical member is often formed from a plate-like member which is bent into a circular configuration, and the opposed edges are welded to provide a longitudinal seam. The circular configuration requires special tooling or supports to adequately hold the opposed plates with the edges aligned. Other applications may involve flat plates which are mounted essentially at right angles, or some intermediate angle, to each other and require the moving or bending of one or the other of the plates to affect the desired alignment for welding. Although special fixtures may be provided for any given application, the construction of the fixtures is time consuming and construction on a case-by-case demand significantly increases the operator cost and consequently the product cost. There is therefore a need for a versatile single aligning and clamping level tool which can be applied to the various plate-like work members encountered in actual practice. The level tool should of course provide for convenient mounting and rapid manipulation in order to minimize operator time and cost.